Campaigning in Janesville, Wisconsin on 24 September 2004, President George W. Bush sharply criticized Democratic challenger John Kerry for publicly questioning the credibility of visiting Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, arguing that a US leader cannot afford to undercut a key ally.
Allawi had appeared in Washington the previous day and offered an optimistic assessment of Iraq's trajectory, downplaying the insurgency and pledging that national elections would proceed in January 2005. Kerry responded by calling the visit a public relations exercise, noting that Allawi's rosy picture contradicted his own recent remarks about fighters entering the country.
Kerry also argued that conditions in Iraq were worsening and that US policy needed to change. Bush countered by accusing Kerry of preferring Saddam Hussein's rule to the current situation, a characterization Kerry rejected: his actual words called Saddam a brutal dictator but questioned whether the war was justified.
Bush, making his seventh campaign stop in the battleground state that year, was preparing to retreat to his Texas ranch ahead of the first of three presidential debates, scheduled for 30 September.
Historical summary. TurkishPress restated this AFP wire report, first published in September 2004, in its own words.